[Sigia-l] Sigia-l Digest, Vol 30, Issue 28

[Sara Alloy]

> Not at a place where dressing up isn't considered an essential
> functionality/strength. In fact, the ability to know how to dress down
> properly is more difficult to learn.
>
> To go back to what I said, if interview dress code is about "image" as you
> say or signaling intentions as I would put it, is it better to send a signal
> truly in sync with your comfort level and and see if it matches with the
> company's, rather than simply send a signal of compliance with which you may
> have difficulty every day during your tenure there?
>
> Just askin'.
>
> ----
> Ziya
>

I'll admit that I missed the beginning of this discussion, but 
honestly, this particular line of debate doesn't make a lot of sense to 
me. Has anyone ever heard of someone NOT being hired because they 
dressed too formally? (And I mean, that was the only reason...as in, 
the company called up the candidate and said "we really would have 
liked to hire you, except around here we were tennis shoes to work and 
you were wearing dress shoes. Better luck next time.")

As one currently coming out of grad school and looking for jobs, this 
certainly applies to me...case in point, I just interviewed with a 
company that is notoriously casual....my interviewers were in something 
like khaki pants and nice, but not dressy/business-casual, shirts...I 
was in a suit, complete with jacket (and it was 80 degrees that day) 
and pantyhose. If I don't get the job, I'm going to take a wild stab in 
the dark and say it has little, if anything to do with how I'm dressed.

You know, they say interviewers decide in the first 15 seconds whether 
or not they want to hire you (I can find a source for that somewhere if 
I really need to), which means, they are looking at you and how you're 
dressed...and maybe how you shake hands and/or make eye contact. 
Dressing up means you have respect for the company, those interviewing 
you, and yourself. It's completely irrelevant what the employees wear 
on the day to day (as some one else mentioned, you're not an employee 
yet). And hence why I don't see why it was ever a question to begin 
with.

Okay...mild rant over (and I'm really not normally the ranting 
type)...and hey, honestly, if you want to wear tennis shoes to your 
interview that's fine by me...it's one less person I have to compete 
with. :)

Sara

-- 
Masters of Information Science Candidate 2007
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Library and Information Science (LIS)
School of Information
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

"None but ourselves can free our minds" - Robert Nesta Marley

"Every [person] feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the
world weigh less than a single lovely action." - James Lowell